Airbeds are rapidly gaining popularity as an alternative to inner spring mattresses. One of the most attractive features of an airbed is the inherent firmness adjustability. As opposed to a non-adjustable inner spring mattress, the firmness of an air bed can be quickly adjusted simply by changing the air pressure in the bladders of the bed. The larger beds include two juxtaposed bladders, thereby providing two independently adjustable sleep surfaces in a single bed.
As depicted in FIG. 1, beds offering two bladders were originally constructed simply by providing a cover 2, inserting a foam border 4 around the inner sidewalls of the cover 2 to provide a desirable shape for the mattress 10, and inserting two independent juxtaposed bladders 12, 14 inside the foam border 4. Based on this construction, some customers expressed concern that when they were on inside edge 8 of their bladder 12 or 14, toward the center of the bed, their body weight forced all of the air in the bladder 12 or 14 toward the outer side 6 of the bladder 12 or 14, leaving them in a low point on the mattress. If their sleeping partner was lying on the center of the other bladder 12 or 14, the inside edge 8 of the spouse's bladder 12 or 14 would be fully inflated. The discontinuity between the inside edge 8 of the compressed bladder 12 or 14 and the fully inflated adjoining inside edge 8 of the adjacent bladder 12 or 14, created an uncomfortable sleeping surface. Though this problem was somewhat alleviated by the incorporation of foam covers and pillow top mattress covers, the effect was still noticeable.
Recently, another advantage of airbeds has resulted in the development of sleeper sofas with airbed mattresses. The advantage is that the airbeds can be deflated, virtually eliminating the space used by the mattress. Conventional sleeper sofa designs are plagued with a struggle between providing a comfortable sleep surface when the bed is deployed, and providing an attractive sofa when the bed is hidden away. A thick, comfortable mattress is difficult to fold into a couch. Mattresses that are foldable are too thin to insulate a sleeper from the non-uniform support surface under the mattress.
Airbed mattresses eliminate this problem because they can be deflated before the bed is folded into the couch. Thus, the thickness of the mattress is completely independent of the mechanical structure of the sofa mechanisms. The development of airbed sleeper sofas has quickly progressed to the inclusion of a mattress having two bladders.
A sleeper sofa airbed mattress with two bladders brings with it the same potential problem of a gap between the bladders when inflated. The deflation of the bladders during storage creates a new potential problem as well. Namely, the deflated bladders may become overlapped or otherwise wrongly positioned during the folding and unfolding of the sleeper sofa. Simply placing a piece of foam between the bladders is not effective because when left unsecured, unattached or otherwise not held in place between the bladders, the foam is likely to become displaced when the bladders are inflated, deflated, folded and/or unfolded.
Thus, there is a need for an airbed mattress having two independent bladders that remain in position while being inflated, deflated, folded and/or unfolded. There is a further need for this mattress to provide a sufficient level of firmness across the extents of the mattress so an individual sleeper does not feel drawn to a depression in the middle of the bed. There is yet another need for securing a support member between two independent air bladders such that the support member remains in position while the two independent bladders are inflated, deflated, folded and/or unfolded.